Contents

Oregon Heritage Schedules Conversations with Funders in February & March

Links

Links: Points of View, Public Lands, Water

“It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn.” —George Washington, 1789

Pete Crow’s statement [Opinion: Occupation turns ugly by Pete Crow, Publisher, Western Livestock Journal, January 29, 2016] ”… this is a case of civil disobedience,” in my opinion, is not correct. When people start arming themselves with a plethora of automatic weapons and declaring that they are going to take a hard stand, I think that goes beyond civil disobedience. I recall the videos of men with rifles trained on federal agencies in Nevada. Do not forget that others from the occupation had been arrested earlier, boasting that he was going to kill people. There were statements by others that they would never be taken alive. I do not believe that the authorities were engaging in overreach; in my opinion they had been very patient and outreaching in regards to their negotiating with the occupiers.

Pete, someone has to be the boss. I have not seen the general public protesting against the federal or other agencies in this manner. There may very well have been, and I’m just not aware of it. Please inform me if you have knowledge of such protests. It seems to me that much of the conflict is between those who want to extract resources and the agencies – industries, such as mining, timber, grazing, etc. Let us not forget about the many stake holders that are concerned with maintaining a healthy ecosystem that will support the native wildlife species and natural landscapes.

There was a reason for the Taylor Grazing Act. In the absence of any regulation many of the federal lands were being over grazed to the point of devastating the range land and causing erosion and loss of productivity of the native range land. Many of the effects can still be seen today. I believe it was the cattlemen who asked the Fed to get involved. They had to come up with a plan to determine how many cattle and who got the right to graze those lands. In 1935 Oregon had the first grazing district that was formed under the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934. The Oregon cattlemen were very progressive even at that time. They had already formed their own grazing association to protect the grazing lands for the adjacent land and water right owners in the area. At that time the public grazing areas were being denuded by the nomadic sheep and cattle herds. The Bonanza grazing district was the first official grazing district to be formed under the 1934 Taylor Grazing Law in the United States. Oregon was the first in the USA!!! The semi arid forests of the west need to be managed quite differently than many other regions. Much of the timber that has been cut will take two to three hundred years to replace. There is good reason that forest practices are more restrictive in some other areas than others.

It was obvious by the turn of the century that the livestock numbers were unsustainable on the public common grazing areas. You see, most people realize that as the reality of the world changes society must learn to adapt. Just as we realized that unregulated grazing of the commons was unsustainable and laws were created by 1934 with the partnership of agencies and ranchers to save the commons, we understand that regulation is necessary sometimes, to save us from ourselves. The Taylor Grazing Law was challenged in 1935. Some livestock owners refused to obey the Law and were arrested and sent to jail. The case went to the Supreme Court and the law was upheld, so, as early as 1935 it was considered settled law.

The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 has been amended as reality of our society has changed. The law has changed to accommodate the changing attitudes and desires of the general public. The BLM is now charged with addressing the concerns of environmentalists, the recreation concerns, new energy demands, etc. The world has become more complicated, and so has the job of managing the public lands. It has been a long tradition in this country to solve issues by determining what is good for the vast majority and moving our policies in that direction. Livestock production on public lands has lost ground to other uses that are considered more important to the greater majority of the people.

The longer we study the environment and the better our science gets, our understanding of the ecosystem and how we as a society affect it, has evolved. Some of the desert areas in the west have continued to deteriorate, even under much lighter grazing. That is why many question the grazing use as a viable use of these public lands. In my opinion that is why Bundy feels so threatened. His way of life will probably be eliminated in the future, as will others.

That is the reality of our changing society. The environment has become more important to society than a few cattle. It is public land and the public should have the ultimate say in how it is used.

Believe me, I empathize with those who are having their way of life threatened. We in agriculture are facing the changing attitudes of society on several fronts. We have to face the reality and find ways to adjust with the most reasonable, productive, creative way possible, or find ourselves in the position of those in conflict with the law down on the wildlife sanctuary.

Just a little history on the wildlife sanctuary. It was formed to protect the many species of birds that were being shot for the feathers in women’s fancy hats of the time. Many of those birds had been harvested to the point of extinction for the adornment of hats. One might be able to draw some parallels between the birds and the cattle.

Fred Justesen

Grass Valley, Ore.

2. Equine Mania Horsemanship & Trail Obstacle Clinic, May 7-8

On May 7 and 8, we are hosting Keith Danielson of Hooper Crossing Ranch in Hooper, Washington. The focus of this clinic will be horsemanship and trail obstacles. We have a 12 rider limit so get your spot reserved! Questions? To reserve your spot, call Carrie Kaseberg 541-980-7394.

3. Weather: January Statistics for OSU Experiment Station in Moro

~ Erling Jacobsen

2016

air temp

air temp

air temp

snow

snow

wind

evapor.

evapor.

evapor.

evapor.

max water

min water

soil temp

soil temp

soil temp

soil temp

2016

JANUARY

max

min

current

precip

new

on grnd.

MPD

reading

adjust.

daily

year total

temp

temp

4″ max

4″min

4″set

12″

JANUARY

1

25

15

18

2

146

35

35

35

35

1

2

21

16

16

T

T

2

140

35

35

35

34

2

3

19

13

15

0.02

0.5

2

133

35

35

35

34

3

4

20

17

18

0.05

1

2

47

35

35

35

34

4

5

25

15

25

T

T

2

31

35

35

35

34

5

6

30

22

28

0.01

T

2

26

35

35

35

34

6

7

32

26

27

T

2

56

35

35

35

34

7

8

35

24

25

2

70

35

35

35

34

8

9

42

25

30

T

T

1.5

66

35

35

35

34

9

10

35

29

29

0.08

1

2

12

35

35

35

34

10

11

34

26

28

T

T

2

82

35

35

35

34

11

12

35

24

28

T

T

1

44

35

35

35

33

12

13

33

27

30

0.14

1

22

35

35

35

33

13

14

42

29

34

T

T

1

143

35

35

35

33

14

15

44

29

31

0.16

T

1

46

35

35

35

33

15

16

42

31

31

0.14

T

1

49

35

35

35

33

16

17

40

30

33

0.05

T

49

35

35

35

33

17

18

41

29

33

0.13

T

78

36

35

36

33

18

19

47

32

34

0.04

T

40

40

36

39

34

19

20

42

31

37

0.38

T

140

40

37

37

35

20

21

46

37

37

0.11

T

34

40

37

40

36

21

22

43

36

42

T

T

58

40

40

40

36

22

23

51

32

34

0.14

86

42

40

41

37

23

24

47

32

35

0.01

107

42

40

40

38

24

25

47

30

34

57

43

39

39

38

25

26

51

29

31

51

43

38

39

38

26

27

46

31

34

0.02

24

41

39

41

38

27

28

50

33

47

T

49

43

41

42

39

28

29

54

34

36

0.13

129

43

42

42

39

29

30

49

32

33

0.03

137

42

40

40

39

30

31

44

26

26

112

40

38

38

38

31

SUM

1212

842

939

1.64

2.5

2264

SUM

0.00

1170

1137

1149

1091

SUM

AVG.

39.1

27.2

30.3

73.0

AVG.

37.7

36.7

37.1

35.2

AVG.

3.0

Total precipitation was 1.64″ which is .04″ above normal.

The monthly average temperature was 33.1° which is 2.1° above normal.

2015/2016 Crop year total is 7.17″ which is .74″ above normal.

4″ soil temperature ranged from 35° to 43°.

The highest temperature was 54° on the 29th.

The average windspeed was 3.0 m.p.h. which is .5 m.p.h. below normal.

The lowest temperature was 13° on the 3rd.

The windiest day was the 1st with 146 miles recorded for 24 hours.

Long time averages indicate we can expect 56° and 15°.

4. Oregon Heritage Schedules Conversations with Funders in February & March

Oregon Heritage staff will join other statewide cultural organizations Feb. 9-March 3 for “Conversations with Funders,” a 12-stop state tour encouraging cultural nonprofits to apply for close to $5 million in collective grant funds.

Oregon Heritage and the other organizations will provide information about their grant programs, as well as suggestions for planning projects and submitting funding proposals. In addition to the State Historic Preservation Office and the Oregon Heritage Commission, organizations touring will include the Oregon Cultural Trust, Oregon Humanities, and the Oregon Arts Commission. Representatives from the Oregon Community Foundation and Portland’s Regional Arts and Culture Council will attend some events.